Power Sellers Unite

elgato · Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Posts: 17240 Location: Texas

Over the last few weeks I’ve been hearing complaints from more and more sellers that their auctions are being buried at the bottom of eBay search results. There seems to be no good reason for this – these sellers are not below standards, in fact many of them are Top Rated Sellers.

There’s a long thread on the eBay Business Seller Board and there are many more discussions about the matter. A TameBay reader even pointed out that when they searched for my own auction listings on eBay they too were dumped at the bottom of search results.

TameBay reader Robin has been doing some investigation and tested where his auctions appear in search and used two different eBay accounts to do some a-b testing. He’s captured his findings in video which makes for interesting watching and if you currently sell on eBay you need to be aware of this information.

http://tamebay.com/2011/11/how-ebay-are-blacklisting-good-sellers-auctions.html

cohibastore.com · Joined: 14 Sep 2006 Posts: 4908

in short, if no one is watching or bidding on your crap, it drops in search. this is nothing new. i have lots of items that bottom out in search despite my being a top rated (yawn) seller. they are slow sellers with only occasional sales.

elgato · Joined: 24 Feb 2005 Posts: 17240 Location: Texas

"they are slow sellers with only occasional sales."
That would be me as for online sales. :roll:

Jerryb · Joined: 15 Mar 2009 Posts: 444

Ebay is shooting themselves in the foot and you better believe they know it. Especially in the Handmade Jewelry and collectables areas.

Example today my sales so far :
Ebay $30
Bidstart $148
Delcampe $92
Etsy $68

I really hope you dont read this as bragging- And Ebay generally does ok for me. the intent of this post is that the alts are working very well- they are making sales and across the board for me. Ebay lost all those non ebay sales because of their rediculas rules and the way they treat their sellers and buyers- it will never be forgotten by those ebay has screwed, and we are talking about a lot of people and a lot of families that buy also.. If ebay was a pleasant fair place to sell why look elsewhere? You know all these sales are recorded at paypal so they certainly know they are losing marketshare bigtime. Etsy jewelry sales for me are 20 to 1 ebay sale. Ebay jewelry is for most part a total scam artist paradise rippoff since China came on Ebay so all sellers pay for the lack of sales even tho most US sellers actually use real silver and real gold. lol.

elpereles · Joined: 15 Dec 2006 Posts: 1478 Location: Puerto Rico

Jerryb, congratulations! It is the way to show eBay that they aren't the #1 anymore.

That is the way with action. And not that crazy nonsense annual boycotts that have hidden agendas.

Jerryb · Joined: 15 Mar 2009 Posts: 444

I have about 1360 items in my ebay store. three days ago i noticed search was not showing correct items in store- I get from 900 to 1070 so 300+ are missing and missing means people can not buy that item. - nowhere to be found and each time you refresh the page the total in my store is different but in the range as mentioned above.

I called tech support and they said it was a KNOWN issue but they do not know what is wrong or how to fix it or when it will be fixed. hopefully soon?

Jerryb · Joined: 15 Mar 2009 Posts: 444

Ebay store search is still not fixed. going on 5 days - i show 1000 out of 1400+ listings.

a hint to any others this is effecting - ask for a $50+ refund. you will most likely get it if you are niceabout it. they do and can issue this store fees refund - credit

luckyalive · Joined: 27 Apr 2008 Posts: 589

The seller i.d. list of items does not even work many times. I click on my id, then items for sale, then switched between the tabs for auction, buyitnow, and all items.

The auction tab, in which all my items were, shows 62%, then 67%, then 82%, then 91%, and finally 100% after 5 clicks. WTF? So this what I am paying eBay for?

Jerryb · Joined: 15 Mar 2009 Posts: 444

the funny thing is .. they do not know how to fix it. I have called them every day for the past week and each time they admitted rhere was a huge problem effecting many sellers and each day i was promised it would be fixed the next day. it is still broken this morning. I will be calling them again later today.

I am really surprised that the news media has not got wind of this. it is big. I am showing 33% to 10% (as you refresh) items not present in search as the MAIN search is also not working along with the store not showing stock to the public.. not shown or not in search = no one can buy. I hope this gets fixed soon as its getting very old. :-) I was told that the problem was going to be fixed by rolling back some added code they had done to the site and this would fix it. lol. I remember in the old days on Ebay the downtime was BAD... very bad. At least for most part Ebay seems to be running ok except for this.

luckyalive · Joined: 27 Apr 2008 Posts: 589

"the funny thing is .. they do not know how to fix it."

Oh I think they know exactly what they are doing. About like the X times by list of blocked bidders suddenly gets lost from their database and they suddenly that away by saying X number of people on ebay have also been affected. Yeah right, how come there is no eBay news or other outside news on this database lost. Besides you mean to tell me they are running a multi-million $ operation and they do not have at least two other backup data systems located in other geographical location? Yeah right.

seewhatimsellingnow · Joined: 29 Feb 2008 Posts: 1254 Location: Ohio

I have been selling on Ebay for ten years now. For the first time, in October, I lost my TRS/PS status and somehow, I have now become a ‘below standard’ seller.

It’s interesting, since my DSR scores have NEVER dropped below 4.9 and my feedback is 100%.

I AM a good seller, but now, my Paypal funds are put on HOLD by Ebay- My search visibility has been lowered and I lost my 20% FVF discount. My auction style listings are getting no action at all. I’ve had one sale in the past three days. I just do not understand this. Betty Lou

Jerryb · Joined: 15 Mar 2009 Posts: 444

the problem is not a data base loss of info issue, its a program call up issue imo. but anyways if it is effecting you i stronmgly suggest you call support and ask for a credit of at least a months store fees. they did give me $50 and i was glad to get it. every penny helps these days and i am not the enemy but just giving you a heads up.

I talked again today to them and they said it will be fixed tomorrow... lol

today is same as last 8 days... 1/3+ inventory is not to be found in store or in main search. Delcampe was totally down this morning also so it must be in the air. :-)

seewhatimsellingnow · Joined: 29 Feb 2008 Posts: 1254 Location: Ohio

Is Ebay reporting these 'glitches' in their 'System announcements' ? Or still trying to keep all glitches from the public? Anytime I call them about a glitch- I'm ALWAYS told- there IS no glitch or system problems, and MY report is the FIRST they've heard of it. Not ONCE have I been told "Yes, it's a glitch and we're working on it"- Not once. Ebay doesn't want to give out those refunds when their system causes our loss of sales. Betty Lou